Research into eye recognition technology has occurred since 1935. It was during that year an article appeared in the New York State Journal of Medicine that suggested that the pattern of blood vessels on the retina could be used to identify an individual . Since 1935, extensive research and development has gone into establishing iris and retinal patterns and the uniqueness of them.The concept of a system that is able to identify an individual based on their iris was developed in America as well as Britain. The key individuals in bringing this concept to reality were Leonard Flom and Aran Safir, two ophthalmologists. The development of the actual iris scanning technology is credited to Dr. John Daugman. Dr. John Daugman is the man responsible for the creation of the mathematical (algorithms) formulas used to measure the varying characteristics of one's iris. These mathematical formulas were patented by Dr. John Daugman at Cambridge University in 1994
The technology involved:
The iris is so unique that no two irises are alike, even among identical twins, in the entire human population. In actuality, identifying the iris and converting it to mathematical code, the probability that two irises will produce the same mathematical code is approximately one in ten to the 78th power. The population of the earth is approximately ten to the tenth power .The iris itself has 400 unique characteristics termed as Degree of freedom which are analysed and then used for identification of individuals. Despite this ony 260 such characteristics or degree of freedom are being used in the identification system. Some such characteristics include filaments, crypts (darkened areas on the iris), rings, and freckles etc.
The identification system involves two stages: active and passive.
Basically the whole thing is a four step process. First a person stands within a range of one and three feet away while the wide angle camera can focus and calculate the position of the user's eye. A second camera then zooms into the eye and captures a black and white image.After the iris system has one's iris in focus, it overlays a circular grid (zone of analyis) on the image of the iris and identifies where areas of light and dark fall. The purpose of overlaying the grid is so that the iris system can recognize a pattern within the iris and to generate 'points' within the pattern into an 'eyeprint'. Finally, the captured image or 'eyeprint' is checked against a previously stored 'reference template' in the database.
The time it takes for a iris system to identify your iris is approximately two seconds. In general a template iris pattern code contains 256 and 512 bytes of data.
Advantages and disadvantages:
We will first look at the advantages of the new technology discussed above:
a. The time it takes for a iris system to identify your iris is approximately two seconds. In general a template iris pattern code contains 256 and 512 bytes of data.Up to 100,000 records a second can be scanned using a standard personal computer. Furthermore, the mismatch rate is less than one in 100,000
b. Since the iris is a very unique part of the body and also different for identical twins the method is efficient for crime control activities and also identification.
c. Identification of people in restricted areas( say cantonment, or the airport) can be done more efficiently and people trying to enter these places by putting forward false identities can be caught.
The problems of the technology are:
a. Although the technology is very efficient but it still is a very expensive method to implement especially in developing countries like Bangladesh where false identity and forgery is a common case in government instituitions.
b. The technology requires high skilled user and operator.
c. The technology also has health hazards and is intrusive in nature.
d. There is not enough fund from private sectors and government.
Despite the problems mention above the iris scanning system is considered to be the best biometric performer on the market as it has very low false reject rates and also faster identification facilities. Computer engineers are also predicting that e-commerce will use the technology for legal tender purposes i.e the tender will be a combination of digital certificates and an image of the person's iris.
Iris and retinal identification
A brief history of the identification system:
Research into eye recognition technology has occurred since 1935. It was during that year an article appeared in the New York State Journal of Medicine that suggested that the pattern of blood vessels on the retina could be used to identify an individual . Since 1935, extensive research and development has gone into establishing iris and retinal patterns and the uniqueness of them.The concept of a system that is able to identify an individual based on their iris was developed in America as well as Britain. The key individuals in bringing this concept to reality were Leonard Flom and Aran Safir, two ophthalmologists. The development of the actual iris scanning technology is credited to Dr. John Daugman. Dr. John Daugman is the man responsible for the creation of the mathematical (algorithms) formulas used to measure the varying characteristics of one's iris. These mathematical formulas were patented by Dr. John Daugman at Cambridge University in 1994The technology involved:
The iris is so unique that no two irises are alike, even among identical twins, in the entire human population. In actuality, identifying the iris and converting it to mathematical code, the probability that two irises will produce the same mathematical code is approximately one in ten to the 78th power. The population of the earth is approximately ten to the tenth power .The iris itself has 400 unique characteristics termed as Degree of freedom which are analysed and then used for identification of individuals. Despite this ony 260 such characteristics or degree of freedom are being used in the identification system. Some such characteristics include filaments, crypts (darkened areas on the iris), rings, and freckles etc.
The identification system involves two stages: active and passive.
Basically the whole thing is a four step process. First a person stands within a range of one and three feet away while the wide angle camera can focus and calculate the position of the user's eye. A second camera then zooms into the eye and captures a black and white image.After the iris system has one's iris in focus, it overlays a circular grid (zone of analyis) on the image of the iris and identifies where areas of light and dark fall. The purpose of overlaying the grid is so that the iris system can recognize a pattern within the iris and to generate 'points' within the pattern into an 'eyeprint'. Finally, the captured image or 'eyeprint' is checked against a previously stored 'reference template' in the database.
The time it takes for a iris system to identify your iris is approximately two seconds. In general a template iris pattern code contains 256 and 512 bytes of data.
Advantages and disadvantages:
We will first look at the advantages of the new technology discussed above:
a. The time it takes for a iris system to identify your iris is approximately two seconds. In general a template iris pattern code contains 256 and 512 bytes of data.Up to 100,000 records a second can be scanned using a standard personal computer. Furthermore, the mismatch rate is less than one in 100,000
b. Since the iris is a very unique part of the body and also different for identical twins the method is efficient for crime control activities and also identification.
c. Identification of people in restricted areas( say cantonment, or the airport) can be done more efficiently and people trying to enter these places by putting forward false identities can be caught.
The problems of the technology are:
a. Although the technology is very efficient but it still is a very expensive method to implement especially in developing countries like Bangladesh where false identity and forgery is a common case in government instituitions.
b. The technology requires high skilled user and operator.
c. The technology also has health hazards and is intrusive in nature.
d. There is not enough fund from private sectors and government.
Despite the problems mention above the iris scanning system is considered to be the best biometric performer on the market as it has very low false reject rates and also faster identification facilities. Computer engineers are also predicting that e-commerce will use the technology for legal tender purposes i.e the tender will be a combination of digital certificates and an image of the person's iris.
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